Doffing machine



Oct. 3, 1967 TAKASHI MORIKAWA ETAL 3,344,593

DOFFING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 22, 1964 INVENTORS': 7% :2 g W I Kazuichi Sakumi. 6 x {3.1; FM ATTORNEYS Oct- 3, 1967 TAKASHI MORIKAWA ETAL DOFFING MACHINE Fig 3 Filed June 22, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS BY W 4,6 Jfl-WJATTQRNEY s Oct. 3, 1967 TAKASHI MORIKAWA ETAL [3,344,593

DOFFING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet .5

Filed June 22, 1964 E IN BY 4XWM ATTORNEYS VENTOF? TAKASHI MORIKAWA ET AL.

DOFFING MACHINE Oct. 3, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 22, 1964 (O) KO) Ham TIME DI i I 1 d 1% kW W M WWVENTQRS BY flaw/M ATTORNEY$ United States Patent 3,344,593 DOFFING MACHINE Takashi Morikawa, Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo-ken, Kunio Aoki, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Minoru N akamura, Itami-shi, Hyogo-ken, Yutaka 'Maruyama, Hirakata-shi, Osaka, and Kazuichi Sakurai, Hidaka-gun, Wakayamaken, Japan, assignors to Daiwa Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha and Osaka Kiko Company Limited, Osaka, Japan Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,645 1 Claim. (Cl. 5753) This invention relates to an apparatus in which a fully wound bobbin is discharged in a lateral direction from a flyer type spinning machine. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus in which in accordance with a definite program a plurality of fully wound bobbins are simultaneously discharged from a spinning machine, after which they are suspended by hanging means and, in turn, empty bobbins suspended on the hanging means are supplied from the direction in which the fully wound bobbins were discharged.

Although various apparatuses have been used in spinning mills for the continuous automated operation from the blowing to the drawing processes, the automatic exchanging of the roving bobbin for coupling and roving and spinning processes has not been developed as yet. This has been due to the fact that complicated operations were required; namely, the roving of a conventional roving frame had to be slackened a prescribed amount between the delivery part and the flyer top before pulling off the fully wound bobbin from the spindle, the flyer had to be pulled ofi the spindle, then the fully wound bobbin had to be pulled off the spindle, after which an empty bobbin had to be supplied in its stead, and then after slipping the flyer over the spindle, the end of the roving from the flyer having the prescribed amount of slack as hereinbefore noted had to be wound on the curved surface of the empty bobbin by way of a presser. Hence, it is difiicult to perform the exchanging of bobbins automatically or mechanically, as indicated hereinbefore.

In a roving frame having a roving windup mechanism, as disclosed in US. Patent 3,114,224, wherein the lower end of the bobbin engages a bobbin rotating shaft and its upper end is journaled in a rotational center of an upper journal of the flyer and the roving is wound onto the bobbin with the bobbin rotating in a fixed position while the presser alone makes up-and-down movements, the present invention can be achieved by a mechanism that can exchange bobbins without dismounting the flyers.

The gist of the present invention, when summarized, resides in a bobbin exchanging apparatus for use with a spinning machine in which the flyer rotatably secured in a fixed position and the spun yarn is wound up on the bobbin in the rotational center of the flyer, the bobbin supporting elements are disengaged from a plurality of fully wound bobbins, which are then simultaneously discharged in a lateral direction, following which a plurality of empty bobbins are simultaneously introduced from the lateral direction so as to be supported by said bobbin supporting elements. Further, as apparatus for this type of bobbin exchanging in a spinning frame in which the flyer is rotatably secured in a fixed position and the spun or slubbed yarn is wound up on the bobbin in the rotational center of the flyer, there is provided a bobbin mounting and dismounting apparatus comprising a bobbin holder assembly equipped with bobbin holding chucks, means capable of slidably moving said assembly towards and away from the spinning frame over a full or partial stroke as well as means capable of raising and lowering said assembly for a full or partial stroke, and arms for releasing a plurality of bobbins from engagement by means of the bobbin rotating and flyer rotating shafts.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for discharging simultaneously a plurality of fully wound bobbins in a lateral direction from the flyer frames.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for introducing simultaneously a plurality of empty bobbins to the flyer frames from the lateral direction and coupling them to the flyers in such a manner as to make spinning operations possible.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an extraction device for fully wound bobbins by which a plurality of fully wound bobbins are simultaneously taken off the flyers in a lateral direction and suspended by means of movable hangers located thereabove.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device by which a plurality of empty bobbins are received by the movable hangers located thereabove and simultaneously introduced from the lateral direction into the flyers in such a manner as to make spinning operations possible.

A further object of this invention is to provide a bobbin exchanging apparatus which, after stopping at a prescribed position alongside the front of a spinning frame and installing in the flyers so as to make spinning operation possible empty bobbins which have been conveyed by a carrier, again travels along the front of the spinning frame to the next prescribed position to repeat the same foregoing action and by successively repeating this action accomplishes the exchanging of all the fully wound bobbins of the spinning frame.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bobbin exchanging apparatus which has been designed to carry out the exchanging of bobbins in accordance with a definite program.

When, for accomplishing the foregoing objects, the invention apparatus is incorporated in the series of processing steps starting with the blowing operation and including the carding, drawing, combing, roving and spinning operations, or are combined with other means, the rationalization of the spinning process can be furthered.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not to be limited to the embodiments illustrated and described, but includes all of the obvious variations and modification within the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claim.

' FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of one instance of the use of the invention apparatus in a spinning machine (roving frame);

FIG. 2 is a side view, partly in section and partly broken away of the windup part of a roving frame for practicing the invention and shows the parts in the state in which a presser has been positioned so as not to hinder the extraction of the bobbin in a lateral direction;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus of the present invention and illustrates the bobbin holder assembly in its holding position;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line VV of FIG. 4; i 7

FIGS. 6 and 7 are simplified side views for illustrating the dofiing action, FIG. 6 showing the state in which the bobbin is being held by a holder and FIG. 7 showing the state in which the bobbin has been disengaged from the bobbin rotating portion, while still being held by the bobbin holder;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a chuck;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the chuck actuating mechanism;

FIG. 10 is a side view of a bobbin carrier; and

FIG. 11 is a view showing the path of movement with respect to time of the apparatus of the present invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, rails or guides 14 are provided on the delivery side of a roving frame 11, over which rails a carriage 13 equipped with a doffing means 12 travels alongside the front of said roving frame 11. The rails or guides 14 are provided at fixed intervals with projections or means for stopping the carriage 13 and when the detecting element of carriage 13 contacts said projections, the carriage 13 stops accurately at these fixed positions and the apparatus carries out a previously set program.

The apparatus of this invention can be used in those spinning machines in which the bobbins can be taken out in a lateral direction, for example, those as shown in US. Patent 3,114,224 or in FIG. 2, in which the flyer and bobbin rotate in a fixed position, the bobbin 15 being held at its upper end by means of a supporting element 17 disposed in the rotational center of said flyer 16 and at its lower end by means of a shaft 18 for rotating the bobbin 1:, and the roving is wound up on the bobbin with only a presser 48 making up-and-down movements. In addition it is to be used with a bobbin carrier 49 having bobbin hangers 47 at intervals of half of the pitch of the spindles on the roving frame, which carrier is provided above the rail 14 so as to travel along the ceiling with empty bobbins suspended from every other bobbin hanger (FIG. 10).

The clotting means consists of a bobbin holder assembly 21 of a plurality of equidistantly spaced pairs (top and bottom) of holders 20 having chuck arms 19 for holding the bobbins 15, means (not shown) capable of slidably moving said assembly 21 :along a pair of guide rods 35 towards and away from the roving frame '11 over a full or partial stroke, means capable of raising or lowering said assembly 21 along a pair of vertical guide rods 37 for a full or partial stroke, and arms 22 projecting towards the roving frame 11 which are for releasing the bobbins 15 and the flyers 16 from engagement with the supporting shafts 17 and 18. Bobbin holder assembly 21 has secured to an upper member 24 and a lower member 25 of its frame member 23 pairs of bobbin holders 20 facing in the same direction and spaced at equidistant intervals. At a central part 26 of frame member 23 on the opposite side from holders 20 and facing in the opposite direction from holders 20 is secured perpendicularly :a movable rack 27. (FIGS. 3, 4 and 5).

The free ends 28 of each arms 19 of bobbin holder 20 are biased toward each other at all times by spring 29, and the space between the ends 28, when the holder is closed, is of a smaller dimension than the diameter of an empty bobbin (FIG. 8). Between the arm portions of each chuck at the top and bottom ends of a shaft 31 are provided cams 30. Shaft 31 has a pinion 32 fitted thereto, which in turn engages a horizontally reciprocating rack 33. Hence, by moving rack 33 back and forth by a cylinder 33a (FIG. 5) the cam is rotated, thereby making it possible to open or close the arms 19 of holder 20 against the action of spring 29. The element indicated as 34 is a rubbery substance which serves not only to protect the bobbin from damage but also to prevent slippage.

Assembly 21 is mounted so as to be capable of slidable up-and-down movements on guide rods 37 provided perpendicularly on a sliding member 36 which slidably travels on guide rods 35 moved by means of cylinder 35a which permit forward and backward movements of said sliding member 36, the guide rods 35, in turn, being mounted on carriage 13. (FIG. 3). On said sliding member 36 is mounted besides the hereinbefore mentioned rack 27 another rack 38 in such a manner that the serrated surfaces of the racks face each other, and with rack 38 being stationary and between these racks 27 and 38 is provided a pinion 39 which meshes at the same time with the teeth of both racks 27 and 38 and which can be raised and lowered by hydraulic piston 39a. Arms 22 are provided above the bobbin holders 20 across the top of a transverse member 41 extending between side members which slidably move forward and backward along guide rods 35 4 provided on carriage 13 by cylinder 40a (FIG. 5). The free end 42 of arm 22 has an inclined upper surface and becomes thin at its tip.

At the bottom part of the side members 40 of arm 22 are provided cams 43 which are abuttable with downwardly extending projections 44 at both sides of said assembly 21. Further, the free end 42 of arm 22, when made to project towards the roving frame, serves to push up the bobbin upper end engaging element 17 located in the flyer.

The bobbin carrier, which is conveying means for holding the fully wound bobbins 15 which have been doffed from the roving frame as well as for feeding the empty bobbins 46 thereto, works in cooperative relationship with the bobbin mounting and dismounting means of the present invention. This carrier is preferably provided above the line of flyers of the roving frame 11 in such a manner that it is capable of movement.

The left side of FIG. 10 illustrates the state in which the carrier is holding the empty bobbins 46 for feeding to the roving frame, whereas the right side of this figure illustrates the state in which the fully wound bobbins 15 doffed from the roving frame are being held. Hence, the bobbin hangers 47 are disposed alternately, spaced apart at intervals equal to the distance between the rotational axes of the flyers. Hanger 47 of the carrier is the same or similar construction as the bobbin hanger for use of the roving provided in the creel of a spinning frame. If the bobbin hole is slipped over a hanger and pressed, the bobbin is held, while if the held bobbin is pressed towards the hanger, it is released and can be pulled off.

The movements involved in the apparatus of the invention will now be described with reference to the graph of FIG. 11. In the drawing, the time is indicated along the horizontal axis, the datum line, and above the datum line are indicated the stroke distances corresponding to the distances moved in the to-and-fro and up-and-down directions from the original position, while below the datum line are shown the starting and stopping times.

The movement in the to-and-fro direction of the bobbin holder assembly 21 with respect to time is in a cycle shown as line A in the drawing while that of the up-anddown movement is shown as line B. The timewise to-andfro movement of arm 22 is in a cycle shown as line C. On the other hand, the movement starting and completion times are in a cycle indicated as lines D and D. The inclined portions of each of the lines indicate the interim during which movement is taking place while that parallel with the datum line indicates the continuance of the same movement.

When the bobbins of the roving frame become fully wound, the bobbin rotating shafts 18 and flyers 16 all cease their rotation at once. At this time, the pressers 48 are in a state in which they have descended to their bottommost position and the roving is wound from the bottom end of each bobbin onto the rotating shaft (FIG. 2). As shown in FIG. 1, flyers 16 are all stopped in a definite position relative to the delivery part to ensure that there are no hindrances to the extraction of the bobbins.

As the bobbins of a roving frame become fully wound, carriage 13 begins its travel and upon stopping at its prescribed position, a securing means (not shown) functions to ensure that the carriage stays in this position. The bobbin holder assembly 21 is advanced to the fully wound bobbins of roving frame 11 and stops (line a a At this position, the chuck arms 19, which up to then were open, close to grip the top and bottom ends of the fully wound bobbins 15 (line d d The side members 40 then proceed towards bobbins 15 along the guide rod 35', and the ends 42 of arms 22 provided on the front of the side members 40 push up the engaging elements 17 at the upper end of the bobbins while simultaneously earns 43 on the arm 22 abuttably contact projections 44 on holders 20 to raise bobbin holders 20 slightly upward while still holding bobbins 15, whereby bobbins 15 become sepa- 7 rated from their lower engaging elements 18 (line 0 c Immediately thereupon, pinion 39 starts moving upward I and as a result of the meshing of racks 27 and 38 therewith, the bobbin holder assembly 21 is raised by rack 27 (line b b and the fully wound bobbins 15 which it carries are suspended on alternate bobbin hangers 47 which are empty on carrier 49 while the chuck arms 19 are opened simultaneously (line d d In this state, the position of the upper ends of the fully wound bobbins 15 are in slightly lower position. The bobbin holder assembly 21 then retracts slightly (line a a and waits for the movement of the empty bobbins 46 of carrier 49. When after a slight travel of the carrier 49 the empty bobbins 46 arrive and stop in front of the several bobbin holders 20, pinion 39 descends slightly and stops (line b b.,). The said assembly 21 then advances to the central position of carrier 49 (line a a and the front ends of chuck arms 19 come in contact with the empty bobbins 46 followed by closing of the chuck arms, whereby the empty bobbins are gripped (line d d Thereafter, pinion 39 rises slightly (line b b and releases the empty bobbins 46 from hangers 47, then descends to its original position (line b b with the consequence that the bobbin holder assembly 21 descends to its original position. Thereafter, when the bobbin holder assembly 21 advances while holding the empty bobbins 46 to the position of the rotational axes of the flyers (line a a the retraction of arms 22 takes place (line c 0 At this time, since the projections 44 and cams 43 become disengaged from each other, the empty bobbins 46 become engaged with the lower engaging elements 18 and since at the same time the free ends 42 of arms 22 are withdrawn from the upper engaging elements 17, the empty bobbins become journaled to bobbin rotating shafts at their upper ends also. After reversion of arms 22 to their original position and the release of the hold of chuck arms 19 on the empty bobbins 46 (line d d assembly 21 reverts to its original position (line a a and then when the securing means of carriage 13 is released, the latter again moves in its prescribed direction.

The foregoing movements can be achieved by the use of any of those means that are used by those skilled in the art, as required, such as a method in which as motive power a conventional hydraulic source 101 is used, a method of transmitting power to the rotating shafts by means of cams or toothed wheels, etc.

Further, these movements can also be accomplished either by effecting the change from one of the movements, such as a a d d 0 0 etc., to the next following movements by switching magnetic valves by means of limit switches thereby changing the direction of flow of the hydraulic fluid, or by changing the direction of rotation of the toothed wheels. The movements can also be accomplished by causing the mechanism to memorize a given program which it then repeats. The user is free to decide as to which of these should be chosen in accordance with the objectives desired and scale of operation.

As fully described hereinbefore, since the exchanging of the bobbins is carried out in a lateral direction according to the method and apparatus of this invention, there is no need whatsoever for dismounting the flyers and hence the roving remaining on the flyers does not break nor slacken. Thus, the exchange of bobbins can be carried out smoothly, with the consequence that the production eificiency is enhanced. In addition, since not only is it not necessary to use the space above the flyers but also because the bobbin exchanging movements are shortened, the mechanism becomes relatively simple. Consequently, the time required for the exchanging of bobbins can be shortened.

Further, by setting up an arrangement of a combination of the present bobbin exchanging apparatus with various bobbin conveying means such that the bobbins conveyed to the spinning frame by a bobbin conveying means are, after becoming empty at the spinning frame, brought back by said conveying means, the automated coupling of the roving and spinning processes becomes possible.

What is claimed is:

An apparatus for exchanging bobbins in a spinning frame having flyers mounted thereon which flyers are rotatable in a fixed position and the bobbins are adapted to rotate in the center of the flyers and are removable laterally from the flyers when the rotating shaft and supporting element at the upper end of the fiyer is raised, the apparatus being for conveying the full bobbins to an overhead bobbin conveyor which also conveys empty bobbins into position for transfer to said spinning frame, said exchanging apparatus comprising a carriage movable along the front face of the spinning frame, a bobbin holder assembly means mounting said bobbin holder assembly on said carriage for movement toward and away from the front face of the spinning frame and for movement up and down, means on said carriage for moving said bobbin holder assembly toward and away from the front face of the spinning frame and means for moving said bobbin assembly up and down, a plurality of pairs of bobbin gripping chucks spaced along said bobbin holder assembly at distances equal to the spacing of the flyers on the spinning frame, the individual chucks in each pair of chucks being spaced vertically for engagement with the ends of the bobbins, a plurality of engaging members, one associated with each pair of bobbin gripping chucks and positioned just above the upper bobbin chuck of each pair, and engaging member moving means on said carriage on which said engaging members are mounted and movable toward and away from the front face of the spinning frame independently of said bobbin assembly for engagement and lifting of said supporting element at the upper end of each bobbin in a flyer to disengage said sup porting element from the bobbin supported thereby, whereby the bobbin gripping chucks can be advanced to engage full bobbins on the spinning frame and simultaneously the engaging members lift the supporting members to release the bobbins, and while the supporting members are held in the raised position by the engaging members, the bobbin assembly is withdrawn from the face of the spinning frame, raised so that the bobbins are engaged by bobbin hangers on the overhead bobbin conveyer, the bobbin gripping chucks are released and withdrawn, the overhead bobbin conveyer is moved to present empty bobbins to the chucks, the chucks are engaged with the empty bobbins, and the bobbin assembly is lowered and moved toward the front face of the spinning frames to place the bobbins into the flyers, after which the bobbin assembly and engaging members are simultaneously withdrawn.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,622,812 3/ 1927 Schneider 57--52 1,639,968 8/1927 Rhodes et al. 57-52 3,059,406 10/1962 Ingham 57-52 3,114,224 12/1963 Morikawa 57-71 3,173,239 3/1965 Ortmans 57-52 FOREIGN PATENTS 807,540 10/ 1936 France. 152,769 10/ 1920 Great Britain.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. BILLY $1 TAYLOR, J. COHEN,v Ex miner 

